Hogwarts' Darkest Hour

Fred and George didn't really dislike Ron; they were just a little disappointed in him. If they truly didn't care about Ron at all, they wouldn't have said those things.

"You can't say that," Kyle thought for a moment and said, "At least Ron is honest, which is a good thing."

By the way, why exactly did they engage in a wizarding duel with Malfoy?

"It's supposedly because of that freshman named Neville."

Fred thought for a moment and said, "Malfoy hid his map and mocked him for his bad memory. Ron and Harry stood up for him, which led to the conflict."

"A three-on-three wizard duel? I can't believe they even came up with that idea."

"Having a strong sense of justice and loyalty... those are two more virtues."

Kyle nodded, and said with feigned seriousness, "So Ron isn't as bad as you say... at least he's much better than the fish in the Black Lake."

"We do not deny his actions."

Fred shook his head, somewhat amused and exasperated. If Ron hadn't had decent intentions and hadn't embarrassed the Weasley, they wouldn't have bothered with that idiot brother of theirs.

"We're just questioning his intelligence... Even going to Professor McGonagall to complain would be much better than stupidly going up to the fourth floor during curfew."

George said indignantly, "And after suffering such a huge loss, he actually forgot everything just by taking a nap."

Kyle raised an eyebrow, seemingly guessing the real reason for their anger.

The conflict between Gryffindor and Slytherin is a legacy issue; it's always a tit-for-tat exchange. While neither side is guaranteed to gain the upper hand, neither will willingly accept defeat.

Even Percy, whom they called a bookworm, would go to the professor to complain.

George continued, "If it were me, I would have at least five ways to make that Malfoy regret what he did."

"For example, hire an owl to deliver a Dungbomb that explodes as soon as you open the package at breakfast."

"Or perhaps pour the failed potions from Potions Class into his shoes."

"That's a bit difficult," Kyle said, stroking his chin. "Snape always just throws away any substandard Potions."

If you don't care about points deductions and detention, I think it's better to create an accident and splash it on the spot.

Fred and George looked at Kyle in disbelief.

In Potions Class, someone splashed a Slytherin student with a failed Potions?

Even if it really was an accident, Snape would still deduct 100 points from it, and at least 100 points at that.

Does Kyle really think they're too much of a "split" for Gran?

Even if they don't care about grades, they don't want to be last in the House Cup every year.

That's so embarrassing.

Fred and George rolled their eyes simultaneously, completely ignoring Kyle's terrible idea.

"We've made up our minds." George glanced back in the direction he was looking and gave a meaningful smile.

"To raise Ron's awareness of the crisis and his vigilance..."

"To prevent him from falling for such a flawed trap again..."

"We've decided to give him special training..."

"Special training?" Cedric was a little confused. This wasn't Quidditch; how else could they train?

"Yes, we call it Hogwarts' Darkest Hour!" Fred said. "We didn't sleep a wink all night to perfect this plan."

"But there's nothing we can do; he's our beloved younger brother."

"Of course, this might cause Ron some suffering, but he'll gain much more."

"At least we know our limits and won't actually harm him."

"He will definitely thank us in the future."

Kyle didn't know if Ron would thank Fred and George in the future, but he knew that Ron's days were probably numbered.

The darkest hour at Hogwarts... the name itself says it all.

Although the specifics are unclear, it's certainly not a good thing.

Poor Ron, he ended up with two such unreliable brothers.

"Do you need any help?" Kyle asked.

"Not yet," Fred shook his head. "The preliminary plan is already quite complete; we can implement it tomorrow."

Kyle said with some disappointment, "Alright, you can let me know anytime you need anything."

"Don't worry, we won't be polite."

Suddenly, Kyle felt the fishing rod in his hand sink. The force was so great that it almost pulled him into the Black Lake.

It's taken the bait, and it's definitely a big one!

"Click..."

The fishing rod snapped in two with a crack.

Kyle immediately forgot about his beloved Weasley, and with lightning speed grabbed the remaining half of the fishing rod and pulled it back with all his might.

"Quickly, Cedric, use the Reinforcement Charm!"

They were using simple fishing rods made from pear tree branches and spider silk; it was normal for this to happen if the fish they caught were too big.

"Coming right now, hang in there!" Cedric threw down his fishing rod.

But before he could even take out his wand, Kyle suddenly fell to the ground, his fishing rod soaring high, casting a silvery-white fish onto the grass not far away.

Kyle, ignoring the grass blades sticking to his clothes, stood up and ran over immediately.

It was a one-foot-long broadback fish, roughly weighing about two pounds.

Kyle frowned.

The broadbacked fish commonly found in Black Lake is generally small; two pounds is already considered quite large.

But the immense force he had just felt didn't seem like something a small fish should have.

The hardness and toughness of the pear tree are not low; a two-pound fish cannot break it in an instant.

"Strangeness..."

Cedric, who was squatting nearby, seemed to have noticed something and pointed to the fish's belly, saying, "Kyle, look here."

"What's wrong."

Kyle looked in the direction he was pointing, then suddenly froze.

He discovered that the fish didn't have a hook in its mouth, and it was caught because it was tied up.

The thin, long spider silk fishing line wrapped around its body twice and was finally tied into a pretty bow to secure it.

"Kyle ..." Fred asked uncertainly, "Does your fishing rod have an automatic knot-tying magic?"

"How could that be!" Kyle said irritably.

He was just fishing to pass the time; why go through all this trouble? Automatic knot tying... he'd never even heard of such magic.

In fact, after seeing the fish that was tied up so tightly, Kyle probably guessed what had happened.

The Giant Squid in the Black Lake, or perhaps Merpeople...

This broad-backed fish was probably manually tied to a fishing line made of spider silk by one of them and then delivered to us.

As if to verify his guess, soon, the other people's fishing rods also started to move.

When they pulled them up, they found they were all broadbacked fish that had been tied up.

Kyle's expression was rather unpleasant.

What's the meaning of this? They haven't caught anything in over an hour, but giving away fish... that's a bit much, isn't it?